Recaps

Lorelei escaped Team Rocket with the unconscious Ye Li after using an Ice Explosion Core to seal the passage and carve an underground tunnel. Giovanni ordered Ye Li recovered at any cost, shaken that his Strategist had been taken from his control.

• Lorelei confirmed that Ye Li and his wounded Bayleef were alive in the passage beneath the ruins.
• Apollo and Team Rocket reinforcements surrounded the exit, and Lorelei threatened to kill Ye Li if they approached.
• Lorelei activated an Ice Explosion Core, freezing the passage and hiding her escape into a newly formed underground tunnel with Ye Li.
• Apollo reported Lorelei's escape to Giovanni, who ordered Team Rocket to find her and bring Ye Li back at any cost.

Ye Li was imprisoned at Pokémon League headquarters while Lance and the council debated how to handle him. The League settled on a non-injurious assessment of his willingness to cooperate, and an official began by offering concern for Ye Li and his injured Eevee.

• Pokémon League soldiers escorted Ye Li to a sealed white cell beneath Indigo Plateau.
• Lorelei told Lance that Ye Li’s surrender had seemed deliberately planned, but Lance insisted that capturing him was a victory.
• Lance argued for interrogating Ye Li and publicly executing him, while a senior council member urged the League to recruit him.
• The council compromised on a non-injurious interrogation to assess whether Ye Li would cooperate before deciding his fate.
• A smiling League official visited Ye Li, offered medical care, and said his injured Eevee was being treated at a Pokémon Center.

Ye Li pretended to cooperate with a Pokémon League official while feeding him expendable Team Rocket information. After the official showed him the arrest of an innocent merchant framed as a Team Rocket financier, Ye Li’s brief trust in the League vanished, though he concealed his disgust and asked for time to think.

• Ye Li acted grateful for the official’s concern and asked whether Umbreon was safe.
• The official ordered the Indigo Plateau Pokémon Center to give Umbreon the highest-level treatment, easing Ye Li’s concern.
• Over several days, Ye Li shared seemingly valuable but expendable information about Team Rocket bases and personnel.
• The official showed Ye Li footage of a raid and claimed the League had captured one of Giovanni’s trusted financiers.
• Ye Li recognized the arrested man as an innocent merchant framed by the League and hid his revulsion behind a smile.
• Ye Li told the official he needed time to think about cooperating.

Ye Li pretended to consider defecting to the League while an official tried to recruit him. The official revealed the League’s secret Pokémon weaponization facility, leaving Ye Li disgusted by its experiments.

• Ye Li feigned doubt about Team Rocket’s strength as the official promised him a pardon, a senior position, and research resources if he shared its plans.
• Ye Li said he needed to see more of the League’s sincerity, and the official led him to the top-secret Biological Gene Research Center.
• Ye Li saw Pokémon grotesquely altered with mechanical implants and genetic modifications, many suffering or lifeless in cultivation tanks.
• The official described the experiments as necessary to protect humanity, and Ye Li concluded the League was as cruel as Team Rocket beneath its righteous claims.

Ye Li witnessed the Pokémon League’s horrific experiments and recognized its weaponized Tyranitar as the missing partner of a disbanded Johto Gym Leader. After the official asked him to sign a loyalty agreement, Ye Li pretended to consider joining while secretly deciding to escape and expose the League.

• Ye Li feigned awe at the League’s experimental Pokémon to satisfy the official.
• The official led Ye Li to a modified Tyranitar, code-named Titan, and praised its Elite-level power and obedience.
• Ye Li recognized the Gym emblem on Titan and realized the League had likely taken the Pokémon and its Gym Leader, then erased the Tyranitar’s mind.
• The official offered Ye Li a Confidentiality and Loyalty Agreement and promised him access to the League’s central technologies.
• Ye Li accepted the agreement and pen while pretending to consider the offer, but resolved to escape and reveal the League’s crimes.

Ye Li pretended to cooperate with the Pokémon League while secretly learning about the Secret Prison’s security so he could escape. Lorelei suspected the official interrogating him was tied to a radical faction, but an emergency report about Cinnabar Island forced her attention to a looming catastrophe.

• Ye Li used the League’s conciliatory approach to question the official about the Secret Prison’s defenses while acting interested in joining the League’s plan.
• Lorelei investigated Ye Li’s interrogator and found his personal connections led to a radical faction within the Pokémon League.
• Lorelei suspected Ye Li had encountered the League’s bioweaponization efforts and decided to confront him.
• An emergency alert reported that Mt. Ember’s energy had surged beyond its critical threshold and Cinnabar Island risked sinking.
• Lorelei recognized the eruption as the chain reaction Lugia had warned about, spreading through the world’s imbalance.

As Cinnabar Island’s volcano threatened to unleash a catastrophe across Kanto, Ye Li seized the crisis as a chance to escape prison by offering his supposed expertise. The Pokémon League narrowly approved his release under heavy guard as a special consultant on Lorelei’s team.

• The Pokémon League mobilized its elite forces and appointed Lorelei an on-site commander for the Cinnabar Island crisis.
• After learning of the emergency, Ye Li claimed he had researched volcanic energy and offered to help contain the eruption.
• The official reported Ye Li’s proposal to the League leadership and recommended sending him as a special technical adviser.
• Lance opposed involving a Team Rocket criminal, while the veteran councilor argued that Ye Li’s theory offered another chance to stop the disaster.
• The League approved Ye Li’s release by one vote, requiring him to wear strict monitoring equipment and join Lorelei’s team as a volcanic issues consultant.

Ye Li joined the Pokémon League’s mission to contain the eruption on Cinnabar Island, proposing a way to channel the volcano’s energy into a natural cavity. As the transport aircraft arrived, a corrupted, furious Moltres burst from Mt. Ember.

• Ye Li was escorted from his cell in energy-suppressing shackles and boarded the Pokémon League transport aircraft with Lorelei and a team of volcanologists.
• Ye Li proposed using acoustic resonance and directional blasting to connect the volcano to an underground energy cavity and absorb its eruption.
• The volcanologists grew impressed by Ye Li’s proposal as the aircraft reached Cinnabar Island and revealed Mt. Ember’s catastrophic state.
• Moltres erupted from the crater, its feathers dark red and its gaze filled with pain and madness.

Moltres emerged from the volcano in a tortured, unstable state and attacked the Pokémon League’s aircraft and fleet with devastating fireballs. As the central transport faced destruction, Ye Li used his extraordinary foresight to guide it through a perilous evasion, leaving the passengers stunned.

• Moltres unleashed a shower of enormous fireballs at the Pokémon League’s transports and support fleet, overwhelming the fighters’ attacks.
• Lorelei sent Lapras and Cloyster to use Blizzard, but their ice moves barely restrained Moltres’s dark red flames.
• As fireballs threatened the central transport, Ye Li ordered its pilots to bank left, reduce engine power, and perform a barrel roll.
• The transport pilots followed Ye Li’s instructions and narrowly avoided the fireballs, while the passengers witnessed his uncanny battlefield foresight.

Ye Li used his battlefield predictions to help the Pokémon League evade Moltres and secure a landing on Cinnabar Island. At the data tent, Lorelei’s agent secretly delivered him a chip containing a map of the Secret Prison and a secure communications channel, giving him a possible way out of his cage.

• Ye Li took temporary command over the channel and directed the Pokémon League forces to evade Moltres’s attacks, keeping the main fleet and transport formation alive.
• Lorelei ordered her trusted agent, “Icicle Spear,” to disguise herself as a technician and secretly deliver Ye Li a data chip.
• The League lured Moltres away from Cinnabar Island’s main island, then landed the transport so ground crews could begin rescue operations.
• Ye Li hurried to the data analysis tent under the pretext of examining the volcano’s data.
• Icicle Spear slipped the chip into Ye Li’s cuff and silently told him, “The Queen is watching you.”
• Ye Li recognized that the chip held a map of the Secret Prison and a secure channel Lorelei had provided.

A rampaging giant bird unleashed a devastating fireball attack on the Pokémon League fleet, overwhelming its defenses. Ye Li ordered a desperate formation maneuver that saved the transports, leaving the fleet stunned by his battlefield instincts.

• The giant bird shrieked and hurled a shower of enormous fireballs at the Pokémon League fleet.
• The fleet commander ordered the combat units to intercept, but their Water- and Rock-type attacks evaporated or melted against the fireballs.
• Lorelei and her Lapras slowed one fireball with Ice Beam, while the Cloyster’s Icicle Spear barely hindered the attack.
• As fireballs threatened several transports, Ye Li ordered the pilots to execute a high-speed formation sideslip.
• The transports narrowly evaded the fireballs, and the fleet’s soldiers and commander stared at Ye Li in shock.

Ye Li coordinated the Pokémon League fleet against Rampage Moltres, directing precise evasions and countermeasures that drew it away from Cinnabar Island. At the temporary command post, he received a data chip from Lorelei’s agent containing plans of the League’s maximum-security prison and a private communications channel.

• Ye Li issued rapid tactical orders that helped the fleet evade Moltres’s attacks and protect its aircraft and flagship.
• The Pokémon League forces used coordinated attacks and maneuvers to draw Rampage Moltres away from Cinnabar Island, losing three escort fighters in the struggle.
• Ye Li and the volcanologists were flown to a temporary command post near the volcano.
• Ye Li entered a data analysis tent, claiming he needed real-time volcanic energy data.
• A disguised technician passed Ye Li a data chip containing the prison’s structural plans and Lorelei’s private communications channel.

Ye Li opposed the Pokémon League’s plan to use the Gaia Spear to suppress Cinnabar Volcano, arguing that Moltres’s rampaging power needed to be balanced by other legendary forces. Lorelei backed his proposal, and Ye Li revealed that Articuno and Zapdos had recently left behind tokens of their power.

• At the emergency meeting, experts concluded that Cinnabar Volcano’s rising energy could only be suppressed with the Pokémon League’s Gaia Spear, despite the harm it would inflict on Moltres.
• Ye Li objected to the Gaia Spear and proposed balancing Moltres’s power with two legendary forces of opposite attributes.
• Lorelei supported Ye Li’s plan, overruling the experts’ objections and securing its adoption.
• When the meeting stalled over how to find the other legendary powers, Ye Li claimed Team Rocket’s seized intelligence mentioned tokens left by Articuno and Zapdos.

Ye Li persuaded the Pokémon League to send Lorelei and Bruno after energy anomalies linked to Articuno and Zapdos, leaving Cinnabar Island less defended while Lance faced Moltres. As Ye Li secretly reshaped the island’s security to prepare his escape, Apollo led a Team Rocket unit toward Cinnabar Island to retrieve him.

• Ye Li told Lance that abnormal energy readings pointed to the Seafoam Islands and the Abandoned Power Plant, suggesting Team Rocket was targeting all three Legendary Birds.
• Lance sent Lorelei to investigate the Seafoam Islands and Bruno to investigate the Abandoned Power Plant while he stayed on Cinnabar Island to suppress Moltres.
• With Lorelei and Bruno gone, Ye Li offered useful tactical recommendations and gained higher access to the Pokémon League’s systems.
• Ye Li used his access to move guards and disable surveillance along a planned escape route.
• Apollo led Team Rocket’s Ghost Unit in a submarine through the sonar blockade toward Cinnabar Island to bring Ye Li home.

Ye Li slipped past surveillance to meet Apollo and his Team Rocket squad at an abandoned mine on Cinnabar Island. Rather than attempt a direct escape, he disguised them as a Pokémon League patrol and forged an order to secure their passage through the harbor checkpoints.

• Ye Li convinced a supervising official to lower his ankle restraints’ power and left the command post under the pretense of calibrating an observation station.
• At a camera blind spot, Ye Li used Lorelei’s disposable Communicator to send coordinates and a time, then destroyed the device.
• Ye Li met Apollo and his squad at an abandoned mine and rejected Apollo’s plan to force their way through the League blockade.
• Ye Li ordered Apollo’s team to change into Pokémon League uniforms and pose as a special patrol unit called Sigma7.
• Ye Li used a hidden network connection to forge and send an emergency relief order directing harbor checkpoints to cooperate with Sigma7.

Ye Li led Apollo and the disguised Ghost Unit through League checkpoints toward Cinnabar Island’s harbor, but Sato detected Ye Li’s location and triggered a full alarm. Surrounded by League forces, Ye Li stopped Apollo from attacking and used Lorelei’s private channel to offer the League’s Johto biological-weapons research files.

• Ye Li led the disguised Ghost Unit past three League checkpoints using forged identities and the correct password.
• As the group approached the harbor, Sato noticed that Ye Li’s tracker was off route, confirmed the deception, and raised the highest-level alarm.
• League troops and searchlights surrounded Ye Li’s group at the harbor, blocking their escape.
• Apollo prepared to fight through the encirclement, but Ye Li stopped him, recognizing that the League was waiting for them to attack first.
• Ye Li contacted the highest authority at headquarters through Lorelei’s private channel and offered the League’s Johto biological-weapons research files.

Ye Li escaped the Pokémon League with Lorelei’s help and returned to Team Rocket, where Giovanni approved his plan to attack Fuchsia City and Vermilion City. While Team Rocket prepared to invade, Ye Li intended to use the chaos to recruit Koga and build an independent force of his own.

• Lorelei ordered the Pokémon League troops to halt their assault, allowing Ye Li and Apollo’s team to escape aboard their submarine.
• Lance learned of Ye Li’s escape and Lorelei’s intervention, deepening the rift within the Pokémon League.
• Ye Li received a hero’s welcome at Team Rocket Headquarters, reunited with a stronger Umbreon, and learned that Moltres’s rampage had severely disrupted Kanto’s climate.
• Giovanni asked Ye Li for his next strategic move, and Ye Li proposed a lightning raid on Fuchsia City and Vermilion City.
• Giovanni approved the invasion plan and assigned Apollo to lead it within three days.
• Ye Li planned to use the invasion to win over Koga and cultivate an independent force amid the underworld turmoil.

Ye Li decoded an ancient chart that revealed a ritual for summoning Lugia in the Orange Islands, then persuaded Giovanni to send a Team Rocket expedition to retrieve three Sacred Treasures. After learning the Pokémon League had been involved in brutal experiments, Lance ordered his own fleet to the Orange Islands to confront Team Rocket.

• Ye Li and his researchers decoded the stone-tablet rubbing and found a chart pointing to Fire Island, Lightning Island, Ice Island, and Shamouti Island.
• Ye Li concealed Lugia’s role and told Giovanni that three Sacred Treasures were needed to harness the Legendary Birds’ powers.
• Giovanni gave Ye Li command of a high-priority expedition and ordered him to retrieve the treasures within a month.
• Lance received evidence confirming the Pokémon League’s Pokémon-weapon experiments and reconsidered his view of the League and Team Rocket.
• Lance ordered the Pokémon League’s First Ace Fleet and Dragon Tamer forces to assemble and sail for the Orange Islands.

Team Rocket reached Fire Island to claim the Fire Orb, but its guardian demanded they prove their sincerity by retrieving it from Moltres’s Sacred Fire. Umbreon braved the flames unharmed and brought the orb back to Ye Li.

• Ye Li led Team Rocket’s fleet safely through the Orange Islands to Fire Island.
• Apollo’s landing party met the island’s guardian, who blocked their path to the volcano.
• Ye Li presented a beacon imbued with Zapdos’s divinity and claimed the group were emissaries chosen by the gods.
• The guardian challenged them to retrieve the Fire Orb from the Sacred Fire with bare hands.
• Umbreon entered the flames unharmed, took the Red Orb, and returned it to Ye Li.

Ye Li obtained the Fire Orb on Fire Island, then led Team Rocket toward Lightning Island as the Pokémon League fleet caught up with them. Rather than fight Lance’s superior force, Ye Li persuaded Apollo to flee through the treacherous Dragon’s Maw.

• Umbreon crossed Moltres’s Sacred Fire and returned the Fire Orb to Ye Li, prompting the old guardian to offer it to him and warn him to protect the world’s balance.
• Apollo took Umbreon’s feat as proof that Ye Li was chosen by the gods, and Team Rocket’s expedition fleet left Fire Island for Lightning Island.
• Ye Li’s fleet detected Lance and the Pokémon League’s warships approaching, and Lance demanded that Team Rocket surrender the Fire Orb and submit to arrest.
• Apollo ordered his ships to prepare for battle, but Ye Li stopped him and argued that fighting the League would ruin their expedition.
• Ye Li proposed escaping through the dangerous waters of Dragon’s Maw, and Apollo trusted him and ordered the fleet to enter them.

Ye Li led Team Rocket through the dangerous Dragon's Maw while Lance pursued, unaware that the League fleet was entering unfamiliar waters. The chapter left Lance's fleet scattered and under attack by the Maw's wild Pokémon.

• Lance ordered the Pokémon League fleet to pursue Team Rocket into the Dragon's Maw.
• Team Rocket navigated the fog and submerged reefs with ease while the League fleet lost its bearings and an escort ship struck a reef.
• Ye Li used his detailed nautical chart to guide the fleet safely and told Apollo to lure wild Pokémon toward their pursuers.
• Gyarados and Tentacruel attacked the Pokémon League fleet, breaking its formation and leaving it in disarray.

Ye Li’s fleet nearly escaped the Pokémon League, but Lance’s Dragonite crippled the flagship Tyrant and carried Lance aboard. Lance confronted the emerging Team Rocket commander as his champion’s aura pressed down on the deck.

• Ye Li ordered the Tyrant to run its engines at full power and leave the Dragon’s Maw after the fleet pulled beyond a safe distance from the Pokémon League’s main force.
• Lance’s Dragonite fired a Hyper Beam through the fog and destroyed the Tyrant’s main engine, slowing the flagship dramatically.
• Lance pursued the damaged Tyrant alone, dodging the escort ships’ weapons as he closed in on Team Rocket’s leader.
• Apollo sent out his Crobat and Houndoom, but Dragonite defeated both with Dragon Rush and sent them crashing onto the deck.
• Lance landed on the Tyrant with Dragonite and fixed his gaze on the figure emerging from the command room.

Ye Li tried to mislead Champion Lance by claiming Team Rocket's members were victims of secret Pokémon League experiments, then used Umbreon's Confuse Ray to create an opening. Ye Li, Apollo, and the others retreated into the Command Room, where the emergency shield protected them for the moment.

• Ye Li faced Lance on the damaged flagship deck while Apollo and the other elite members stood behind him.
• Ye Li blamed Team Rocket for secret experiments involving Legendary Pokémon and claimed he and the others had been forced to participate.
• Lance recalled intelligence from Lorelei and began to suspect the experiments were more extensive than he had known.
• Umbreon attacked Lance with Confuse Ray, but Dragonite blocked the beam with its wings.
• Ye Li used the distraction to retreat with Umbreon, Apollo, and the others into the Command Room.
• The alloy door shut and the emergency defense system raised a shield around the bridge area.

Lance withdrew to defend coastal cities after Team Rocket’s diversion forced the League fleet to retreat, leaving Ye Li and his crew temporarily safe. While the damaged fleet headed to a supply island for repairs, Ye Li discovered the Fire Orb resonating with something nearby and suspected the island was Lightning Island.

• The League fleet’s deputy commander reported that Team Rocket units were attacking coastal cities, and Lance ordered a retreat to defend them.
• Dragonite carried Lance away as the Pokémon League fleet withdrew, ending the immediate crisis for Ye Li and Team Rocket.
• Apollo celebrated their escape, but Ye Li warned that the flagship was badly damaged and needed emergency repairs.
• Ye Li chose a nearby uninhabited island listed as a Team Rocket supply point, and Apollo ordered the fleet to sail there.
• Ye Li found that the Fire Orb resonated with something on the island and suspected their supposed repair stop was Lightning Island.

Ye Li led Apollo and four elite Team Rocket members to Thunder Island, where the Fire Orb guided them to an ancient altar guarded by a powerful Electivire. After discovering the guardian’s movements were restricted by something it protected, Ye Li used the squad to create an opening for Umbreon to approach the Thunder Orb.

• Ye Li organized a reconnaissance mission and led Apollo and four elite Team Rocket members by submersible to Thunder Island.
• The Fire Orb guided Ye Li’s squad through the island to an ancient altar, where they found the Thunder Orb guarded by a massive Electivire.
• Apollo sent Houndoom and Crobat to fight Electivire, but the guardian overwhelmed them with its powerful electric attacks.
• Ye Li noticed Electivire stayed within a limited area and avoided a corner behind the altar, then ordered the squad to distract it using the canyon terrain.
• The squad lured Electivire toward the altar’s blind spot, and Umbreon silently slipped toward the Thunder Orb.